Our fantastic friends over at iFixit got lucky and scored an iPhone 4 yesterday. They were nice enough to share some images – let the analysis begin!
Apple really has built a fantastic device. From the super durable “strong as crystal” display, to the minimal construction tolerances to the amazing CNC’d Steel “cage” which acts as both core structure and antenna. Once again, they’ve set the standard every other design house and ODM will try to meet. Count our words, we’ll be seeing less fake “metal” surrounding the edges of our non-Apple devices in the near future.
Dr.Wreck really likes the fact that the so-called “bevel” on these things is made of steel. As you probably guessed, he’s hard on his phones. Drop your BlackBerry 8800 + once and you’re sure to see some battle scars.
Steel Bevels, Hard as crystal front and back? Oh man, this thing sounds scratch proof – I wonder how it will withstand drops?
For all your teardown needs, make sure to check out ifixit’s, step-by-step. They’ve snapped some beautiful shots of the process.
Once the EM/Heat shields are removed, We see the surprisingly compact PCB. Compare this thing to the first Gen iPhone and be amazed. Heck, compare it to a current Gen, HTC device – it’s unbelievable. IC integration/convergence has come such a long way.
Of course, the first thing we see is Samsung’s A4 processor. This is the same core we find in the iPad and boy does it hum. Fixed function, software/hardware ecosystems really do work well. Compare this with the 3Gs (S5PC100 ARM A8 CPU) We’ve got nearly double the processing capability. This thing will literally leave the 3G/3Gs iPhone’s in the dust. We’re on Jobs’ side, how can you support the original 2G with so much additional capability and power?
Technical Specifications at a glance:
PowerVR SGX 535 3D Graphics Core
1GHz Cortex-A8
L1 cache – 64KB
L2 Cache – 640KB
P0P – 2X 256MB DDR SDRAM chips, 64-bit data bus
The iPhone 4 also introduces the brand-new AGD1 3-axis gyroscope. Think you’re accelerometer was fun? There’s an app for that. We’re not too sure who makes it, ifixit thinks STmicro. It’s possible, Apple likes to take proprietary dibs on hardware.
Move a little further along and we see plenty of Skyworks logos. The devices in question are all either FEM’s or PowerAmps. STmicro provides the accelerometer – STM33DH (why isn’t this an MCP with the gyroscope if both are STmicro?) and Triquint rounds out the board with the ever popular TQM duplexers/power amps.
WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all provided by Broadcomm, the BCM4329FKUBG does 802.11n and 2.1+EDR/FM, similar to the 3Gs with added “n” functionality. The separate BCM4750IUB8 does GPS.
Flipping this puppy over reveals the flash memory, looks like Apples big deal with Samsung has held out, this particular model grabs the K9PFG08, yet another proprietary piece. We can’t help but think this NAND has a built in controller.
Bumping along, we see the Cirrus Logic 338S0589 audio codec, the same device that powers iPad’s audio. Compass functionality is provided by AKM8975, Touch Screen Controller is by TI (343S0499) and looks like Infineon brings in the Baseband memory win with the 36MY1EE NOR/DDR.
And that’s it! Hang in there for our review coming in hot over the next few days. Thanks again to ifixit for providing such fantastic photos and working hard to get the device.Yesterday was a Big day for E-readers. We saw the nook drop to $149.99 (WiFi only) and $199.99 for the 3G model. The Kindle 3 was hovering around $259.99 but made a significant leap to $189.99 at the news! Keep in the mind the kindle comes packaged with 3G regardless of price-point.
This is big news, and greatly reduces the margin each manufacturer takes on the device sale.
On both devices, data is offered for free. We all know from personal experience that data isn’t cheap. We also saw from a previous teardown (Kindle 3) – that these devices are NOT cheap the build. The BOM on the Kindle 3 we took apart hovers around ~$200.
How is Amazon going to make money you may ask! Book sales of course! The Kindle is a promising platform, Apps will definitely extend the Hardware Value proposition in the near future. Not to mention seamless integration with your BlackBerry, iPhone, Desktop and iPad. Amazon has really built an interesting business model and content network – if Dr.Wreck was to jump on an e-reader bandwagon it would definitely be Kindle’s.
Competition from high-cost, multi-purpose devices will definitely drive the cost of e-readers down over the next year or so. At phonewreck, we feel it’s only a matter of time before these things are offered for a few bucks, or the purchase of 10-20 e-books. Wouldn’t that be nice?
You may still think, “$200 for an e-reader is way too much, I’d rather go for an iPad” – Dr.Wreck’s opinion? You probably wouldn’t take the iPad to the beach.That’s right – you can now have 128GB of storage in a 17 x 22 x 1.7 mm footprint – brought to you by Toshiba. I can’t help but think this device will have a massive play in the larger devices we’re seeing come to light (See Tablet’s, MIDs, etc.)
Technical Specifications:
The device is built on a new 32nm (opposed the current, 45nm standard) process, and is a combination of 16, 64Gb (8GB) NAND chips. 128GB is enough for roughly 16 hours of h.264 HD (720p) video.
No reports are currently available regarding read and write speed. You can be rest assured though, if they’ll be inside of any consumer electronic device, you won’t have issues streaming media off of it. The bottleneck might come from side-loading you’re offline-content – that remains to be seen.
The fastest integrated memory platform we’ve seen transfers at ~15MB/s (BlackBerry Bold) and that with the assistance of an external controller that effectively bypasses the devices processor core and the sometimes slow, multi-tasked transaction times.
One thing is for certain, Memory has come a long way. 128GB back in Dr.Wreck’s day would fill the Hospital he’s writing this from.
5MB of data ~50 years agoLast week, we saw a report on cnet making claims that Apple’s iPhone 4 is powered by the same device as the Samsung Wave S8500. The renowned A4 chip is manufactured by Samsung – it makes sense that it might appear in a Samsung device.
What many North Americans don’t know is that Samsung is a massive company – much larger than they might think. Samsung plays in semiconductor design, manufacturing, consumer electronics, appliances, and even automotive (i.e., They make cars). From personal experience, the various divisions have difficulty working together. The concept of a Samsung device having a Samsung core is slightly less likely than you probably thought.
R&D costs on a chip such as the A4 are bound to be quite high. Have you ever seen a chip that you weren’t able to ID on Samsung’s website? Chances are it has proprietary claims – much like “Apple’s A4”.
Well, today Dr. Wreck has news for you – semiconductor manufacturers often resell or repackage bare die in an effort to extend a device’s life-expectancy or even functional base. That means you might find yourself purchasing a crippled or often repackaged device for your next design application. This is often done by rotating the die 90 degrees inside of the package – which modifies the pin-out.
What is the device actually called? The S5PC110A01. It’s no wonder Apple, the king of branding in all things electronic, decided on something simple and sexy like the A4. This news is really no surprise – that said, the iPhone is about the only smartphone anyone should really consider building proprietary devices for (sales volumes are high enough to support R&D and tapeout).
Technical Specifications at a glance:
PowerVR SGX 535 3D Graphics core
1 GHz Cortex-A8 (iPad)
L1 cache – 64KB
L2 cache – 640KB
PoP – 2x 128MB DDR SDRAM chips, 64-bit data bus
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Here at phoneWreck, we tear open, break apart, and analyze the latest and greatest handsets on the market. Most importantly, we do this for free. Why?
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Apple really has built a fantastic device. From the super durable “strong as crystal” display, to the minimal construction tolerances to the amazing CNC’d Steel “cage” which acts as both core structure and antenna. Once again, they’ve set the standard every other design house and ODM will try to meet. Count our words, we’ll be seeing less fake “metal” surrounding the edges of our non-Apple devices in the near future.
Dr.Wreck really likes the fact that the so-called “bevel” on these things is made of steel. As you probably guessed, he’s hard on his phones. Drop your BlackBerry 8800 + once and you’re sure to see some battle scars.
Steel Bevels, Hard as crystal front and back? Oh man, this thing sounds scratch proof – I wonder how it will withstand drops?
For all your teardown needs, make sure to check out ifixit’s, step-by-step. They’ve snapped some beautiful shots of the process.
Once the EM/Heat shields are removed, We see the surprisingly compact PCB. Compare this thing to the first Gen iPhone and be amazed. Heck, compare it to a current Gen, HTC device – it’s unbelievable. IC integration/convergence has come such a long way.
Of course, the first thing we see is Samsung’s A4 processor. This is the same core we find in the iPad and boy does it hum. Fixed function, software/hardware ecosystems really do work well. Compare this with the 3Gs (S5PC100 ARM A8 CPU) We’ve got nearly double the processing capability. This thing will literally leave the 3G/3Gs iPhone’s in the dust. We’re on Jobs’ side, how can you support the original 2G with so much additional capability and power?
Technical Specifications at a glance:
WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all provided by Broadcomm, the BCM4329FKUBG does 802.11n and 2.1+EDR/FM, similar to the 3Gs with added “n” functionality. The separate BCM4750IUB8 does GPS.
Flipping this puppy over reveals the flash memory, looks like Apples big deal with Samsung has held out, this particular model grabs the K9PFG08, yet another proprietary piece. We can’t help but think this NAND has a built in controller.
Bumping along, we see the Cirrus Logic 338S0589 audio codec, the same device that powers iPad’s audio. Compass functionality is provided by AKM8975, Touch Screen Controller is by TI (343S0499) and looks like Infineon brings in the Baseband memory win with the 36MY1EE NOR/DDR.
And that’s it! Hang in there for our review coming in hot over the next few days. Thanks again to ifixit for providing such fantastic photos and working hard to get the device.Yesterday was a Big day for E-readers. We saw the nook drop to $149.99 (WiFi only) and $199.99 for the 3G model. The Kindle 3 was hovering around $259.99 but made a significant leap to $189.99 at the news! Keep in the mind the kindle comes packaged with 3G regardless of price-point.
This is big news, and greatly reduces the margin each manufacturer takes on the device sale.
On both devices, data is offered for free. We all know from personal experience that data isn’t cheap. We also saw from a previous teardown (Kindle 3) – that these devices are NOT cheap the build. The BOM on the Kindle 3 we took apart hovers around ~$200.
How is Amazon going to make money you may ask! Book sales of course! The Kindle is a promising platform, Apps will definitely extend the Hardware Value proposition in the near future. Not to mention seamless integration with your BlackBerry, iPhone, Desktop and iPad. Amazon has really built an interesting business model and content network – if Dr.Wreck was to jump on an e-reader bandwagon it would definitely be Kindle’s.
Competition from high-cost, multi-purpose devices will definitely drive the cost of e-readers down over the next year or so. At phonewreck, we feel it’s only a matter of time before these things are offered for a few bucks, or the purchase of 10-20 e-books. Wouldn’t that be nice?
You may still think, “$200 for an e-reader is way too much, I’d rather go for an iPad” – Dr.Wreck’s opinion? You probably wouldn’t take the iPad to the beach.That’s right – you can now have 128GB of storage in a 17 x 22 x 1.7 mm footprint – brought to you by Toshiba. I can’t help but think this device will have a massive play in the larger devices we’re seeing come to light (See Tablet’s, MIDs, etc.)
Technical Specifications:
The device is built on a new 32nm (opposed the current, 45nm standard) process, and is a combination of 16, 64Gb (8GB) NAND chips. 128GB is enough for roughly 16 hours of h.264 HD (720p) video.
No reports are currently available regarding read and write speed. You can be rest assured though, if they’ll be inside of any consumer electronic device, you won’t have issues streaming media off of it. The bottleneck might come from side-loading you’re offline-content – that remains to be seen.
The fastest integrated memory platform we’ve seen transfers at ~15MB/s (BlackBerry Bold) and that with the assistance of an external controller that effectively bypasses the devices processor core and the sometimes slow, multi-tasked transaction times.
One thing is for certain, Memory has come a long way. 128GB back in Dr.Wreck’s day would fill the Hospital he’s writing this from.
5MB of data ~50 years agoLast week, we saw a report on cnet making claims that Apple’s iPhone 4 is powered by the same device as the Samsung Wave S8500. The renowned A4 chip is manufactured by Samsung – it makes sense that it might appear in a Samsung device.
What many North Americans don’t know is that Samsung is a massive company – much larger than they might think. Samsung plays in semiconductor design, manufacturing, consumer electronics, appliances, and even automotive (i.e., They make cars). From personal experience, the various divisions have difficulty working together. The concept of a Samsung device having a Samsung core is slightly less likely than you probably thought.
R&D costs on a chip such as the A4 are bound to be quite high. Have you ever seen a chip that you weren’t able to ID on Samsung’s website? Chances are it has proprietary claims – much like “Apple’s A4”.
Well, today Dr. Wreck has news for you – semiconductor manufacturers often resell or repackage bare die in an effort to extend a device’s life-expectancy or even functional base. That means you might find yourself purchasing a crippled or often repackaged device for your next design application. This is often done by rotating the die 90 degrees inside of the package – which modifies the pin-out.
What is the device actually called? The S5PC110A01. It’s no wonder Apple, the king of branding in all things electronic, decided on something simple and sexy like the A4. This news is really no surprise – that said, the iPhone is about the only smartphone anyone should really consider building proprietary devices for (sales volumes are high enough to support R&D and tapeout).
Technical Specifications at a glance:
